Obama Gains on Clinton's Nationwide Lead, Polls Show Nadine Elsibai
Sun Feb 3, 4:59 PM ET
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Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has gained on Hillary Clinton's lead in voter support nationwide, three new polls found.
Forty-seven percent of likely Democratic voters said they back New York Senator Clinton, while 43 percent said the same for Illinois Senator Obama, a Washington Post/ABC News poll found. The difference is within the survey's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Clinton led Obama 42 percent to 37 percent in a Jan. 12 Post-ABC poll, and she was ahead of him 53 percent to 23 percent in a Dec. 9 poll.
A separate poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and Press showed that 46 percent of Democrats nationwide favor Clinton compared with Obama's 38 percent. Clinton's lead is half what she had in a similar poll in mid-January.
The surveys come two days before voters in 24 states take part in primaries or caucuses.
Among Republicans, Arizona Senator John McCain is supported by 48 percent of likely Republican voters in the Post-ABC poll, compared with 24 percent for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, 16 percent for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and 7 percent for Texas Representative Ron Paul.
The Pew survey showed McCain leading nationwide among Republicans with 42 percent, a 13-point increase from a similar mid-January poll. Romney followed with 22 percent and Huckabee with 20 percent. Romney had 17 percent in January and Huckabee had 20 percent.
USA Today/Gallup Poll
A new USA Today/Gallup poll had Clinton with 45 percent support nationwide over Obama's 44 percent among likely Democratic voters, USA Today reported. The paper said she held a double-digit lead over Obama two weeks ago.
Republican voters nationwide favored McCain 42 percent to Romney's 24 percent, USA Today said. The poll, conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 2, included 867 Republicans with a plus or minus 4 percentage point margin of error and 985 Democrats with a 3- point margin of error, USA Today said.
In delegate-rich California, Romney received 33 percent over McCain's 32 percent, Huckabee's 16 percent and Paul's 8 percent among Republican voters, an American Research Group Inc. poll found. Clinton led Obama 47 percent to 39 percent among Democrats.
The ARG California poll, conducted Feb. 1-2, included 600 Republicans and 600 Democrats. Each group had an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The Post-ABC telephone poll, conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 1, included 1,249 Americans. The margin of error among Republicans was plus or minus 5 percentage points.
The Pew nationwide telephone poll of 1,502 adults was conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 2 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points for Democrats and 5 percentage points for Republicans.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nadine Elsibai in Washington at
nelsibai@bloomberg.net .